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(No Model.) V

e. W. ENTS. LATGHGUARD ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINES. 1%. 334,421. Patnted Jan. 19, 1886.

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GEORGEWV. ENTS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

LATCH-GUARD ATTACHME NT F OR KNITTING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,421, dated January 19, 1826. Application filed August 2, 1854. Serial No, 139,408. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it, known that I, GEORGE W. ENTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have inat the date of the signing of the application herein as the Bransou Knitter," designed for knitting stockings, and founded upon United States Patents Nos. 241,474, 190,952, and Reissue 10,271, and the object of the invention is to provide an attachment for that and kindred machines whereby the stockingtop which has been previously knit on another machine may be expeditiously and readily applied to this machine for knitting on the leg and foot portions.

The invention will be first described in detail, and fully and particularly set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the two figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a side elevation, with the driving pulley and gear partly broken away and the yarn stand removed, of a Branson knitter having my attachment applied and in operative position; and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the attachment and part of the knitter.

The cam-cylinder a,needle-cylinder b, latchneedles 0, driving -pulley d, driving gear 6, gage f, and thread or yarn guide 9 may each be of the well-known Branson construction, although, as already intimated, I do not confine myself to that or any other particular make of circular stocking-knitters.

My attachment for obviating the necessity of removing the needle-cylinder for applying the stocking-top to the needles consists of a finger, h, curved to substantially an arc of a circle concentric with the axis of the needlecylinder, and of from, say, one and a half to three inches in length, or in about the proportion shown,and havingits surface rounded. The end h of this finger is curved upwardly, and extends forward of the yarn-guide relatively to the direction of movement, so as to meet and lift the latches of the descending needles as they approach the yarn, the said end also serving to keep the welt from rising;

thence the finger extends on a substantial level until after the needles have taken the yarn, when its end 11? curves downwardly co-ordinately with the descending needles until such needles arein position to pass the yarn through the welt. As the knitting of the leg portion onto the top progresses, and after the first row of stitches are made, the welt is carried over into the cylinder as any row of stitches would be in ordinary knitting. The position of disuse of the latch-lifting finger is shown in Fig. 2. In use (see Fig. 1) the finger h is pushed by its shank close up against the needle, so as to overlie the needle-cylinder, and when starting up a machine the regulating-nut 0, hereinafter particularly described, is set by the foreman, so as to need no adj ustment by the operator, to give to the finger a limit of movement which enables the finger to be placed in the correct and no other position to insure correct operativeness. The shank h of the finger'is sufficiently broad to insure by its resting on the upper edge of the cam-cylinder a firm support for the device against wabbling or displacement laterally.

If great care be not exercised in the old knitters when making the first few rounds of leg-stitches next the top, the latches will be caught by the welt top or those rows of loops projecting outside the needles from the stocking and be broken off, and so seriously affect progress, and this fault absolutely precludes anything like rapid and hence economic production of hosiery; but with my attachment the tops may be applied to the needles in about the time it heretofore took a skilled operator to remove the needle-cylinder from the camcylinder, and the placing of the stitches of the top consecutively upon the needles is with my device wholly immaterial, the top being simply stuck upon the needles without order. The finger h has its vertical shank It made fast to a squared stem, t, which is fitted in a bracket, adj ustably supported on a standard, It, by a set-screw, Z. The stem '5 is provided with a spring, m, which abuts against the bracket j and pushes outwardly against a pin, '5, of the stem i, so as to throw the finger h away from the needle; or, in other words, to render it inoperative except when positively pushed in toward the needles and .held there by a setscrew, 01, borne by the bracket and acting against the said stem. A nut, 0, is arranged upon the shank outside the bracket and bearing against said bracket for determining the throw of the finger, and hence relieving the operator of any necessity for exercising individual judgment in putting the finger into operation, and to this extent insuring the correct operation of the parts. The bracket j is made adjustable, in order to admit of the elevation of the finger co-ordinately with the usual elevation of the needle-cylinder in using different kinds of threads, by means of the setscrew Z and a slot, j, in the vertical stem j of the bracket j.

The yarn-guide is adjusted as usual and substantially as shown.

In the device of Figs. 1 and 2, the stockingtop having been applied to the needles by simply pressing its stitches over the needles at random, but so as to stretch open the top around and engage it with all the needles, the shank i is pushed toward the needles till its finger comes in such close contact with them as only to permit them to move past it without friction; and this is predetermined, as stated, by the nut 0. The set-screw n is then turned upon the shank to bind it and consequently the finger in position. The machine being then put in motion, the needles will dip as they reach the finger, and their latches will be caught by the end h of the finger and cleared from the projecting loose loops of the top and so held, and passing thence along the finger toward its other end they are raised up to the hooks to lock the thread taken by their needles. After two or more rounds are knitted to the top the set-screw n is released and the spring m carries the finger out of position, and the knitting goes on, as usual. XVith this form the various adjustments are predetermined and absolute, and the operator wholly relieved of the exercise of judgment in making them.

That I claim is- 1. The combination, with the cam and needle cylinders and needles of a knitting-machine and means to rotate the cam-cylinder, of the latch engaging finger, a retracti 11gspring thereon, aset-serew, and a supportingbracket, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the cam and needle cylinders and needles of a knitting-machine and means to rotate the cam-cylinder, of a standard, the yarn-guide thereon, the bracket and means to adjust it Vertically on said standard, a shank arranged in said bracket, a latch-engaging finger carried by said shank, aspring engaging said shank and adapt ed to hold said finger out of operative position, a set-screw to hold said finger in operative position on said bracket, and a nut to limit the throw of the fingers shank, substantiallyas shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of August, A. D. 1884.

GEO. \V. ENTS.

Witnesses:

Wu. H. FINCKEL, G130. M. FINCKEL. 

